Paul Ryan

Paul Ryan is scheduled to discuss immigration reform during a joint appearance in Chicago on Monday with Luis Gutierrez, a left-wing, pro-amnesty representative from Illinois. Gutierrez is part of the House’s “Gang of Eight” which is working on comprehensive immigration reform legislation along the same basic lines as its Senate counterpart. I take the fact that Ryan is appearing in Chicago with Gutierrez to be a bad sign. So too »

In the aftermath of Rand Paul’s filibuster Rick Wilson at Ricochet suggests that “disruption” is the Republican’s “path back to power.” Rand Paul has shown that disruption is a path to trending on twitter. But is it really a path to power? Yes and no. Yes, Republicans would be well-served by disrupting the liberal/MSM narrative. Dynamic young candidates from humble or middle class origins can dent the narrative that Republicans »

Some scoff at the idea that Mitt Romney might carry Minnesota, but actions speak louder than words. Both Bill Clinton and Paul Ryan campaigned in Minnesota today. This morning, I put out a call to Power Line readers who attended the Ryan event to send me photos and accounts of the rally. The results were overwhelming; I can post only a tiny fraction of the photos we got, but thanks »

Paul Ryan gave an important speech in Cleveland, Ohio yesterday. The underlying subject was the enduring necessity of civil society and the role that local communities play in the typical American life, about which Ryan said this: [Romney is] the type we’ve all run into in our own communities – here in Cleveland, too, and all around America. Americans are a compassionate people, and there’s a consensus in this country »

While you’re waiting for the debate to start, check out this video by the Young Cons, Riddle and Rufful. It’s titled “Hey Girl, It’s Paul Ryan.” These guys are among the most creative on the right, in my opinion–almost good enough to get me to like rap! »

Some on the left want to compare last night’s debate to the 2004 mismatch between Vice President Cheney and John Edwards. As I noted before the debate, there is a superficial similarity. In both instances an elderly, highly experienced incumbent vice president squared off against a fresh face. And now that the debate has occurred, I can point to another similarity — like Cheney, I believe that Biden rallied a »

Score this for Ryan: I’m certain that it was Biden’s plan to try to get under Ryan’s skin, drive Ryan off his core strength (his passionate wonkiness), cause him to make a mistake, lose his composure, or look too young and unready for high office. Biden utterly failed to do this. Ryan kept his cool throughout. I hate ever to agree with David Gergen, but Ryan won on style points. »

Joe Biden was always going to be an attack dog tonight. After the presidential debate, the Democrats needed him aggressively to promote their post-debate excuse that Romney is all smoke and mirrors. Moreover, Biden is well suited for the attack dog role. I didn’t expect, however, that Biden’s demeanor would be so off-putting. The ridiculous toothy smile didn’t come as a shock. But the smirking, mocking, laughter, constant interruptions of »

We’ll all have plenty to say tomorrow as we watch the spin/fallout, and my kids are hankering for a re-run of Doctor Who, so for the time being, on the theory that a picture tells a thousand words, here’s how the debate turned out: »

The Obama campaign has responded to the defeat of its man in the first debate by accusing Romney of lying his way to victory. It thus becomes incumbent on Team Obama to make this assertion stick in a forum where the other side gets to participate. This task falls to Joe Biden in tomorrow’s vice presidential debate. His mission is not generally to reassure Americans that the country is in »

“Big stakes for Biden and Ryan in VP debate.” So reads the Washington Post’s headline to this story by Dan Balz. Actually, the debate of vice presidential candidates is almost always inconsequential in the end. The odds are that this will be the case once again. Vice presidential debates seem to take on a heightened importance when an incumbent president loses the first debate. In that event, the party in »

So we’ve noted here before the “Hey Girl, It’s Paul Ryan” Tumblr site, but now there’s a full-blown Paul Ryan music video. All I can say is if you like the theory that the coolest campaign wins, Romney-Ryan are indeed heading for a landslide: »

So we already know from the Woodward book that Obama and his staff didn’t have a contact number to reach John Boehner on election night 2010 to congratulate the GOP on winning a House majority. Let that sink in: the White House didn’t know how to contact the House minority leader. But don’t forget: gridlock is the Republicans’ fault. (I’ll add that I’m sure they’d like to lose Nancy Pelosi’s »

The great thing about Paul Ryan’s speech last night is that it worked at so many levels. As I tried to show in my initial post about the speech, it worked as an indictment of Obama administration policy, as deft support for Mitt Romney, and as traditional pulling of the heartstrings. And it worked at an additional level that I neglected to note — a portryal of Barack Obama as »

Paul Ryan’s speech at the Republican National Convention did not disappoint. John posted the text and Paul celebrated the speech as “optimal and then some.” I believe that’s slightly beyond a superlative, and I concur. The speech ran some 36 minutes. It was full of highlights and merits viewing in its entirety. Let’s go to the tape. Ryan’s indictment of Obama is profound. Among the bill of particulars is »

When Mitt Romney chose Paul Ryan as his running mate, my initial take viewed Ryan as a “sub-optimal” choice. Time will tell whether this assessment proves correct. Thankfully, events to date suggest that I was wrong. The most notable such event, of course, was tonight’s brilliant speech to the convention, one of the best I can recall. I’ve long believed that the most persuasive arguments — be it in a »

It was a great night for the Republican Party and the cause of freedom. All the speakers were good: Tim Pawlenty, Susana Martinez, John Thune and others. But the headliners, of course, were Condoleezza Rice and Paul Ryan. They were both sensational. Condoleezza Rice is a cerebral woman and a life-long Republican, but conservatives have sometimes wondered whether she is really one of us. She eliminated that doubt tonight. Her »